Common octopus

Octopus vulgaris · The common octopus is a clever mollusk that lives in the eastern Atlantic, from the Mediterranean and southern England to South Africa, and in other warm and temperate seas.

Common octopus
Photo: Martijn Klijnstra, CC BY-SA 4.0
Common octopus
Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0
Common octopus
Photo: Ansgar Gruber, CC BY-SA 2.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumMollusca
ClassCephalopoda
OrderOctopoda
FamilyOctopodidae
GenusOctopus
SpeciesOctopus vulgaris

Where it lives

Rocky coasts of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, from Britain to Senegal.

Fun facts

  • A common octopus has three hearts: one main heart for the body and two smaller ones that each sit beside a set of gills.
  • Its blood is rich in copper, not iron like ours.
  • A common octopus has about 500 million neurons, a number almost comparable to dogs.
  • Common octopuses can navigate mazes, recognize individual people, and even learn to unscrew a jar or raid lobster traps.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).